2 Hare Court

Described by The Legal 500 2026 as “of excellent quality and is a class above the rest” and praised for its “outstanding counsel supported by a superb clerking team.” and “2 Hare Court are the premier set for individuals facing serious criminal allegations. No ask is too big, and they have fantastic options from KC through to the newest of tenants. There is a reason why they are always involved in the highest profile cases.” and an “Excellent set of chambers with outstanding counsel supported by a superb clerking team.”

Additionally it says “2 Hare Court is the go-to set for professional discipline work. It has a wealth of excellent senior juniors as well as some really impressive juniors. You always know you are in safe hands with a 2 Hare Court barrister.” and “2 Hare Court is widely considered as a market leader in this practice area.” 

In white-collar and business crime it states “a great set with strength in depth.” and “2 Hare Court boasts one of the strongest rosters of counsel in this field.”

In Health & Safety, it says “An excellent chambers providing support at all levels. One of the best health and safety sets in the country with a strong and professional approach.”, “A strong set in health and safety with talented operators.” and “a go to chambers for inquest work.”

“The clerking team headed up by Julian Campbell is superb. Always accessible, easy to liaise with and have an in-depth understanding of the work we do, and offer the appropriate barrister.” and “Julian Campbell and Jack Shah are stand-out clerks, and offer the highest quality service.” 

“The clerks always go the extra mile…and are highly responsive…they identify suitable counsel, even at short notice.”

“Julian Campbell, Jack Shah and Nadia Todor-Ward are all fantastic clerks. Chloe Tennent is a stand out: she is caring towards instructing solicitors and treats every case with the attention and effort it deserves.” and “Julian Campbell and Jack Shah are right up there with the very best of clerks: they instinctively know what their solicitor clients need and move heaven and earth to provide it.”

The set: Chambers comprises 80 tenants including 23 King’s Counsel and 12 members who sit as recorders. Many of our members have also won individual accolades, and several former members have gone on to serve as High Court and District Judges. We are the counsel of choice for leading defence firms as well as principal prosecuting authorities in London, across the UK, and internationally. Chambers has a proven track record of combining the highest standards of client service with outstanding advocacy and trial management in cases of the greatest gravity and complexity.

2 Hare Court is consistently recognised as one of the UK’s leading chambers, with expertise spanning crime, business crime, private prosecution, financial services, tax, professional discipline, health & safety, regulatory law, inquests and inquiries, sports law, and other related fields. Our members and the set as a whole have been repeatedly shortlisted for awards in both The Legal 500 and Chambers UK, and we are proud recipients of Chambers UK Crime Set of the Year and Professional Discipline Set of the Year.

The set’s barristers provide early and strategic analysis and advice, as well as advocacy of the highest quality where cases cannot be resolved at an early stage and need to progress to trial. Other recent quotes in Chambers UK 2025 include “expert criminal set with a great track record of handling the most serious matters” and “well regarded with high-calibre counsel who are experts in their field”. One interviewee reports that they “can trust each and every advocate at 2 Hare Court to meticulously go through complex evidence in a case from the offset”. Another adds that “for business and financial crime, this is the set to instruct”. 

More information on its barristers and work can be found at www.2harecourt.com.

Types of work undertaken
Crime: 2 Hare Court is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost criminal defence sets in the country and has a long and proud history of representing both individuals and companies facing criminal prosecution.

Chambers offers unrivalled expertise and exceptional ability in defence at all levels of the criminal justice system, from pre-charge advice to representation before the highest appellate courts. Members of Chambers are recognised for the outstanding quality of their written and oral advice and careful, precise advocacy in defence of their clients. We appear throughout England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Caribbean and in other international jurisdictions.

We offer specialist and committed representation to those charged with life or reputation-changing allegations and recognise that every case is of critical importance to the people who are involved, regardless of its apparent size or the attendant media coverage, although many of the cases in which we are instructed are of national or international interest.

Examples of cases in which members have defended include, Ike Ekweremadu, a former Nigerian Senator prosecuted for an organ harvesting plot, the Boohoo modern slavery investigation, the trial of Imran Khan MP for sexual assault, the Boris Becker insolvency case, the John Leslie sexual assault case, the Benjamin Mendy rape trial, the News International phone hacking cases (Rebekah Brooks and Ian Edmonson), the ‘Dizzee Rascal’ domestic assault case, the murder of au pair Sophie Lionnet, the pensioner killer Danville Neil, the police-killing cannibal Stefano Brizzi, Just Stop Oil activists and those accused of breaching Covid regulations.

Members of chambers are contributors to the leading publications used by practitioners; we lecture and provide training to companies and individuals concerned about compliance.

Business crime and financial services: 2 Hare Court has a proud history of involvement in the largest and most complex white collar crime cases.

In recent years, members have been instructed in the LIBOR and FX litigation, the investigation into Cambridge Analytica, the HBOS corruption scandal, the litigation concerning ENRC and the SFO, the Malaysian 1MDB scandal, SFO investigations into Barclays Bank, Rolls Royce, Quindell and Glencore, fraud allegations arising out of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the investigation into former Barclays CEO Jess Daley regarding his alleged relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Boris Becker’s criminal insolvency trial and cases spawned by the release of the ‘Panama Papers’.

In addition, members have been involved in litigation relating to the accounting scandals at Tesco, Serco, G4S and Carillion.

We offer an end to end service, advising at the sensitive pre-charge stage and in relation to restraint proceedings, moving through to trial and confiscation proceedings thereafter if necessary. In addition, we have extensive experience of cases with an international dimension, enabling us to advise on a variety of cross-jurisdictional issues.

Our barristers have experience of a wide spectrum of the business crime or criminal regulatory issues which companies or individuals might face, including allegations of bribery and corruption, criminal anti-competitive behaviour, insider dealing, fraud, money laundering, intellectual property crime, data protection, sanctions and tax evasion.

We also advise on issues such as internal investigations and compliance, whistleblowing, deferred prosecution agreements, the likelihood of civil rather than criminal recovery, global settlements and other areas as requested by our clients. We also undertake private prosecutions, primarily (but not exclusively) on behalf of corporate clients.

Private prosecution: 2 Hare Court’s pre-eminence in prosecution work and the range and depth of our specialist experience in that area (we are home to many former and current Treasury Counsel, amongst other senior prosecutors) means that we have become recognised as a market-leader both in conducting and defending prosecutions brought on behalf of private corporations or individuals.

A private prosecution offers a client who is the victim of crime the opportunity to achieve justice and effective redress when the state is unwilling or unable to take action (as is increasingly the case).

We understand the particular challenges of this work and are able to bring the necessary independence of judgement, rigour, and analytical skill to the process whilst working alongside the best solicitors firms to achieve excellent results for clients.

We are able to offer bespoke advice on strategy, prospects of success, investigative and evidential direction, statutory and ethical obligations including disclosure, referral to the CPS for intervention and costs alongside the more familiar oral and written advocacy services we provide from the commencement to the conclusion of the case.

We are active members of the Private Prosecutors Association and feature in Chambers and Partners for ‘Financial Crime-Private Prosecutions’.

Many of the cases we deal with remain confidential, but examples of our private prosecution work includes: acting for the fashion brand Supreme in its successful prosecution to protect its intellectual property following massive cross-border counterfeiting, for the Swiss energy company Allseas which was the victim of a €100m fraud, for the industrialist and HNW individual Oleg Deripaska in his prosecution of a former business associate for matters arising from commercial litigation, for the Bank of Beirut in its successful defence of fraud allegations which were stayed with costs against the private prosecutor and for a hedge fund in its successful prosecution of an employee who had stolen £3m from the firm.

Professional discipline: 2 Hare Court is recognised as an outstanding set in the field of Professional Discipline and Regulation, with particular expertise in Healthcare, Financial, Sports, Police and Legal Regulation.

We have an award-winning group of leading and junior barristers providing expert advice and representation to professionals and their regulators in cases where our unrivalled experience and knowledge achieves outstanding results.

In Healthcare, members are retained by all major indemnity organisations and deliver early tactical advice and representation before all the major statutory regulators, in particular the GMC and GDC. The team, led by Stephen Brassington, has entered into innovative contracts with CMS LLP to provide advocacy services to the GOC and GPhC, demonstrating our pioneering commercial approach to the delivery of first-class legal services. The team also appears in registration appeals as well as proceedings brought by the CQC, representing both individuals and corporate bodies. We represent healthcare professionals, care homes, councils, and NHS Trusts at inquests where our involvement provides tactical safeguards for any subsequent regulatory or legal action.

Chambers’ strength in financial crime is reflected in instructions to appear before the FCA, the FRC and the Accountancy Regulators in cases involving anti-competitive behaviour, market abuse, insider trading and money laundering.

In the field of Sports Regulation, members are instructed by both regulators and individuals in high-profile proceedings involving corruption, betting, on-field violence and doping brought by the FA, RFU, BHA and the IAAF.

Members represent police officers in disciplinary cases and in proceedings before the IOPC and legal professionals before the SDT and BSB.

Health & Safety: Members of 2 Hare Court are instructed to represent a wide range of corporate clients and individuals who face proceedings brought by the CPS (Special Casework), Health and Safety Executive and local authorities. All members of the team are highly experienced criminal advocates, who over the last ten to fifteen years have specialised in regulatory crime.

Whilst our primary focus is always on the legal outcomes for clients, we are highly sensitive to the commercial and reputational issues involved in a regulatory prosecution and this is reflected in both the advice and the strategy adopted in each individual case.

Our experience extends across the entire range of industry sectors, including construction, transport, agriculture, food, healthcare, education, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas / energy, manufacturing and engineering.

Members have appeared in some of the most high-profile cases in recent years and deal with the entire range of safety work from corporate and gross negligence manslaughter to appeals against enforcement notices. Examples of recent instructions include Prince’s Sporting Club, the Didcot A power station collapse, Monavon Construction Ltd, Pret-a-Manger, Morrisons, Hugo Boss, Crossrail and Spire Healthcare.

2 Hare Court is ranked as a leading set for Health and Safety in both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500.

Inquests: The Inquests team covers all aspects of coronial law and includes expertise and experience in military, prison, police conduct, national security and health and safety related deaths.

Members of chambers have advised and represented bereaved families, individuals, public bodies, government departments and corporate entities. Members also receive regular instructions on behalf of coroners, both as counsel to the inquest and in related High Court proceedings.

Recent examples of the significant and high profile inquests involving members of chambers include the inquests touching upon the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, the death of footballer Emiliano Sala in a plane crash, the death of soldiers during an SAS selection exercise in the Brecon Beacons, soldiers killed in a Challenger 2 battle tank during live firing training and representing a major national newspaper whose war correspondent was killed in an explosion whilst embedded with US troops and Corrie McKeague, whose body was never recovered despite a 12 month investigation.

Chambers’ particular experience in inquests, combined with our expertise in health & safety and professional discipline, means that members of chambers are well placed to advise and represent interested persons in the criminal and regulatory matters that can often follow after the inquest. Members of Chambers are regularly instructed to provide this ‘wrap-around’ support to professionals and large organisations who benefit from continuity of counsel, with that counsel equipped to identify and provide a strategy for all of the risks that may arise.

Public Inquiries: Members of 2 Hare Court are regularly instructed as both counsel to the inquiry and to represent core participants, leading in this field by offering exceptional advocacy coupled with astute tactical and strategic advice.

The last decade has seen a proliferation of Public Inquiries and this trend shows no sign of abating. Members have acted in most of the major Public Inquiries conducted over the last 10 years, including the Thirlwall Inquiry, the Undercover Policing Inquiry, UK Covid-19 Inquiry, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the Jermaine Baker Inquiry, the Independent Inquiry into Afghanistan, the Manchester Arena Inquiry, the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Public Inquiries plainly pose significant legal, financial and reputational risks to individuals, organisations (both large and small) and government bodies or departments. Successful representation at any Public Inquiry involves not only closely monitoring the Inquiry’s proceedings but also understanding and planning for what might follow. Drawing on our training and skills from throughout Chambers’ practice areas, 2 Hare Court’s Public Inquiries team are ideally placed to provide the necessary advice, representation and support through these challenging cases.

Tax: Members of 2 Hare Court have considerable experience of representing individuals, corporates and HMRC across a wide spectrum of tax issues, providing advice and advocacy before both chambers of the Tax Tribunal, the High Court and both divisions of the Court of Appeal.

The breadth of experience of members of the tax team leaves then unusually well placed to represent clients who face, or potentially face, proceedings in both the criminal and civil jurisdictions. This allows for a joined-up approach, ensuring that cases can be settled as quickly as possible and often leading to criminal investigations being concluded without charge.

Chambers has particular experience in dealing with matters relating to indirect taxation and members have appeared in many of the leading cases in respect of MTIC (carousel) and other types of VAT frauds across all jurisdictions, including dealing with public law issues in the High Court.

This in-depth knowledge of dealing with the most complex HMRC inquiries, including COP 9 investigations, and the subsequent issuing of assessments, penalty notices and criminal prosecution, means that members now also provide corporate clients and individuals with advice on how to structure and conduct their business to avoid future HMRC intervention. If an individual or corporate faces investigation, members are well placed to make representations to ensure that the investigation is resolved as quickly and favourably as possible.

Our specialist barristers have an unrivalled reputation for combining in-depth analytical expertise and an ability to understand and simplify the most complex issues with the highest calibre of written and oral advocacy to offer clear and practical advice to professional as well as lay clients. Our members have the ability to cut straight to the core of the most factually and legally complex and sensitive cases.

Notable cases in which members have been instructed include R (on the application of Seabrook Warehousing Ltd) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, Revenueand Customs Commissioners v Ebuyer UK Limited and Citibank NA, Revenue andCustoms Commissioners v Davis and Dann and Anor, Donaghy’s Application for Judicial Review, R (on the application of S&S Consulting Services (UK) Ltd) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, Infinity Distribution Ltd (In Administration) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, Lindsey Hackett v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, Prizeflex Limited v Revenue and Customs Commissioners and Ebuyer UK Limited and Citibank NA v Revenue and Customs Commissioners.

A number of our barristers are able to provide representation on tax issues by way of direct access (sometimes referred to as public access), allowing clients to access the highest quality advice without needing to instruct a solicitor.

Sports law: 2 Hare Court members regularly appear before governing bodies and adjudicative tribunals in relation to a range of different sports, including The Football Association, the British Horseracing Authority, the National Anti-Doping Panel and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

We provide comprehensive advice and representation to individuals, clubs and corporate clients as well as to the governing bodies themselves.

Chambers’ expertise in sports law extends across all levels of seniority. In undertaking this work, we are able to deploy the high standards of written and oral advocacy and tactical judgement developed in other practice areas, such as regulatory law, professional discipline and crime. As well as achieving the best outcomes for clients, we understand the commercial and reputational concerns that professionals have and tailor our advice and representation accordingly.

In football, members have recently represented the FA in the Ivan Toney betting case, the Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho match referee abuse cases, the Nottingham Forest tweets case, the Swindon Town FC intermediary regulations proceedings, the Aidrian Ward / Colossal intermediary case, the Daniel Sturridge and Joey Barton betting cases and the Frank Lampard and Mikel Arteta media comments cases.

In horseracing, members have represented trainer Jim Best in his ‘non-triers’ case, his wife Suzie Best for her application for a trainer’s licence and jockey Tom Morgan for breaches of the BHA’s betting rules.

Members have also represented the IAAF before the CAS in the Shobukhova doping / Russian corruption case and Harlequins RFC and related individuals in the Bloodgate scandal.

A number of senior members of Chambers also sit on the adjudicatory bodies for various sports.